Help me out Jocks

In a few hours I will be making an estimate for a local restaurant who wants a couple butcher blocks. I haven’t yet seen the installation so I have no idea how thick he wants or needs it to be so giving an estimate on lumber isn’t easy. I’m thinking I can get two usable pieces out of each board though, so I priced it out then cut it in half as far as lumber.Here is what I have. Butcher block material estimate.

Hard Maple $4.20 BF

Block one, 72.5” x 10” 6 boards at 6.5ft min. 39 BF$163.80

Block two,26” x 48” 15 boards at 8.5ft min.127.5 BF $535.50

Material Estimate. $699.30

What is a fair labor price?I;m thinking something around 6-7 hundred.

I did mark up the wood from 3.99BF for waste and transport, I’m charging $4.20 BF for it.

-- A positive attitude will take you much further than positive thinking ever will.

I have not done any woodworking for hire, but I can offer the following suggestions. Estimate the time required from start to finish, and whatever hourly rate you believe you are worth (if this is a hobby I would imagine this would be less than your full-time rate at work). Markup this rate to cover maintenance/wear & tear of your tools (overhead), then add in any delivery costs.

Skeemer, I’m trying to start a business. I don’t work outside the home. I’ve never done an order like this, but I think it’s straight forward enough to get it done. I’m thinking I’ll start at $700 so I can negotiate.

-- A positive attitude will take you much further than positive thinking ever will.

Also, when you determine your price and/or hourly rate, consider whether you will claim this as taxable income, and know whether the restaurant is putting this on their books as an expense (as opposed to the owner paying cash out of pocket).

You’ve been doing a lot of cedar, planing, ripping, cross cuts, surfacing, etc. Are your blades up to this task, and if not, how much is it going to cost you to replace or have them sharpened?

Even if they are up to the task, you need to amortize the cost of replacement and down time.

Then there is labor. How much time do you think it’s going to take. Consider time for transport, shopping, replacement of bad wood, replacement of machine parts, etc.I charge $35/hr, then add 30% to the bid for labor overage. When it takes longer I have a happy customer because it didn’t cost any more.Materials: Don’t count on them meeting your needs. Allow 6%-20% for things that don’t quite go right. Order more than you need and if any is left over you can make a nice doodad for the customer, (They’ll think it’s cool!), or not mention the extra and the customer will be happy because there was no unplanned cost.

Construction:I personally don’t like edge grain boards, I would do 2” end grain, with 2”x2” blocks. Glue up all the pieces with alternating grain, (fewer problems down the road that way), Make them as long as you can and once glued up, cut them off in blocks of 5 for the 10” at 1’ long, then glue those up. Once those are done, cut those pieces into 6” chunks and glue them up, and so on. You will need to make allowance for the kerf of your blade and for whatever it takes to flatten the piece.

Yes, it takes longer, but will look better and last longer and be better for the knives the cook uses.

Dallas, these will be 5/4 boards. What I had planned to do is to cut them to size, join the ends and plane both sides 1/32 or a bit more. Then glue them up with titebond 3. This guy doesn’t want anything fancy. I thought about throwing a couple strips of walnut in to give it some character, what do you think about that?

-- A positive attitude will take you much further than positive thinking ever will.

I don’t know how you worked out the timber, but 26×48 x 2 = 1.5 cu/ft = 18 board ft. + 1/3 for waste = 24 board ft. If you make it an end grain block, you’d get that out of 2 off 2” plank – 10’ x 8”. (2 inch thickness)

Jonathan, that’s not a bad idea at the moment. My shop is tore up and is likely to stay that way till I find a buyer for some drywall I’m trying to get rid of. I called and they quoted some nice prices. I may just do that this time around seeing I have such a mess going on. I’m having them quote me maple and maple/walnut combo.

-- A positive attitude will take you much further than positive thinking ever will.

I was going to say the same thing, renners. The calculations are a bit off there. Even if the 2nd block is 3” thick, that’d compute to only 26 BF of stock. 35 BF would be plenty to account for possible waste.

I would still do these edge grain. Profit goes down the drain with end grain (your costs and times go up) and its doubtful your client even knows the difference. Make sure he knows the difference and be sure you hire out a thickness sander if its end grain.

You might find out what they’re going to be cutting on the boards, Russell. If it’s bread in sight of the customer, that’s one thing; if it’s raw meat or vegetables, that’s another. Or sliced prime rib, another (blood groove).